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The voice was loud again. He knew that it was telling him lies but what they said made so much sense. He would never hurt his friends, he couldn’t. But hadn’t he? The voice told him he did. He had seen the proof. It had been in his bunker, in his inventory, in his mind. He couldn’t escape the truth or the voice it seemed, no matter where he went.
The voice used to enter his head when he was the most vulnerable, making him unable to coherently form phrases as it overwhelmed his mind into submission. He was confident that he would blackout soon after. Though he was never quite sure whether or not he was entirely asleep because he’d always awake in a different location with no explanation of how he’d gotten there.
It would whisper to him too, in a sickenly sour tone that clouded his mind and made his thoughts fuzzy. He knew that he should resist the voice, but as soon as it started talking it seemed to beckon him away with a tempting sense of safety and release that his unconsciousness seemed to covet. He hated it, he hated it so much. It told him such terrible lies that it made his stomach lurch with fear and regret but it seemed so far at times, his feelings barely scratched the surface of his mind when the voice was talking to him. It made him feel so horrible he could barely stand to listen, trying to block it with his voice instead. His own panicked voice only seemed to edge it on more. He panicked, and thought, and thought, and thought until he couldn’t do anything else but listen to the voice ...He wanted... to listen to it….
He wanted to make sure that he listened only to the voice. At least it seemed like he wanted to? He wasn’t sure what else he would do though, the voice was the only thing that occupied his thoughts right now. It was all that mattered. When it told him to do things, he would do them. No matter what. The world would fade away into a peaceful darkness, the fear, the guilt, the shame, it didn’t matter when the voice told him what to do.
It was so nice. The mining and the constant burn of his muscle gave him a sense of purpose. He was helping the voice! The voice had helped him, it had told him some truly horrific truths but the way that the voice had said it made his heart melt with a burning pain. When he felt like he was alone, with no one to turn to, not even Techno and Philza, he knew that he could always count on the voice. It told him to dig, so he was going to dig.
He did question it from time to time, as something in the back of his mind screamed at him to stop, like what he was doing was helping the enemy. But how could the voice be the enemy, when it made him feel so willing to help. It gave him an incredible opportunity apparently. It told him that he would be able to help the SMP, that he would make it better. He would bring it together. Save them from all the misery and death and destruction that the wars and constant fights have caused him and everyone else on the server to suffer.
The fatigued had set into his body quite early on, he was sure that he hadn’t even started mining when he suddenly felt an intense drowsiness envelop him. The voice assured him that it wasn’t anything that he had to worry about. He was safe and protected by the voice so he knew he had nothing to fear. Though fear had nothing to do with the uneasy feeling that seemed to stick in his gut. The pricking sensation seemed to never leave his side, but he was filled with such blissfulness that even the pricking of his side couldn’t shake him. He never wanted this feeling to end. It made him feel so cooperative. He wanted to do everything the voice asked if he could always feel like his. If he could always feel like he could make a positive difference in the world.
Maybe he would tell Techno about this later. Techno would want to know. He would tell Tech-.... Te…. Who was he going to tell again? Te... T-Te… The name was on the tip of his tongue. It was an important person, he was sure of it. They had to be important, right? The fogginess in his brain seemed to increase the more he thought about this mysterious person. Why had he thought of them in the first place though? The voice was much more important.
The voice filled him with more pleasantness, the warmth spreading from his brain down to his hands and finally stopping at his feet. Why would he ever need to think of another person, when he had the voice.
It was probably his memory again, He had always had problems with his memories. So the person that he was forgetting probably was just the voice to begin with, who else would he even need to tell.
He was being lulled further and further in this warm and comforting feeling that was developing in his head. He was so overtaken by it, that he didn’t even notice as his vision darkened and blurred around the edges and until he was quietly swept into unconsciousness. He
thought that he had already been entirely swept away but the voice managed to pull him farther and farther from his own body.
He woke near his old home. On the burnt ground that was only a few feet from the edge of the crater. The one that had been blown up by Dream and Techno. Not that he blamed Techno though, he understood Techno’s reasons far more than he understood Dream’s. The voice was noticeably gone, though so were the memories that helped him to understand why he was lying near a crater, in the dark, covered in dirt. He wouldn’t call what he was covered in dirt, maybe ash or soot would be a better description. He found the texture to be somewhat similar to that of obsidian dust and the color seemed to match up as well. Maybe he had slept and walked into the Nether again?
It wouldn’t have been the first time yet he knew what he was safe in the Nether because its mobs never seemed to attack him. However, the temperature was a little warm for his tastes. The Overworld on the other hand was an entirely different story, there were undoubtedly things that seemed to want to hurt him. Not necessarily the mobs but the people too and with his ever decreasing memory, he could barely remember who he was supposed to trust anymore.
Phil and Techno were always safe, if not for his memory, Ranboo could tell that he would be fine because that’s where he built his house. Though, his memory book also told him that he would be sheltered from harm when with them. On the other hand, he was quite sure that he could trust Tubbo too. He wasn’t sure entirely how he felt about Fundy or Tommy and Quackity. He was fairly certain that Fundy wanted to experiment on him, at least that’s what his book told him and he did not think that could be enjoyable. And then there was Dream. Dream was someone he knew he could never tru-...
Sudden drowsiness washed over him with a familiar whispering appearing in the back of his head. The urge to close his eyes was so strong that he could do nothing but listen.
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Dream wasn’t alone. He wasn’t alone. He had a new friend.
Ranboo seemed to be missing a voice in his head and Dream was all too happy to take the space for himself. He had barely felt anything stopping as he forced his way into the boy’s head. Although at first, his mind almost couldn't handle the presence of Dream but as the days wore on, he slowly warped the thoughts, memories, and even the world around the Enderman until it fit his will perfectly. He made sure that whatever information that Ranboo had, was made to correspond with what Dream wanted him to think. Though he couldn’t make his control too
obvious. The boy was aware of the voice and desperately wanted it out of his head, so Dream had to give the boy at least a little bit of hope. He had to make it seem like he had rid himself of the voice but as soon as he overwhelmed himself, Dream would take control of his actions.
There was a side of him that was so eager to listen to what he could say. Waiting on his word, no matter how difficult that task may seem. Once he had given himself over to Dream, he seemed so much happier. Dream told him sweet nothings that seemed to fill the inside of the boy’s head with a warm and comfortable feeling of trust and companionship. Dream had never had a formal conversation with the enderman, Dream was quite certain that his thoughts were very different from how he presented himself. Not that Dream minded someone who was good at hiding things. If he could ever formally convince Ranboo to join his side, he would turn out to be an incredibly valuable asset.
That was if we could ever escape this god-forsaken prison. For a while now, he was wondering if Techno had ever actually received the message that he had tasked his new friend with giving to him. Of course, he couldn’t let his little friend reveal themselves at that time, because he feared that he might be taken away, so he told them to plant a message somewhere Techno would see it. The boy lived close to Techno so he wasn’t surprised when this task had been completed quickly and efficiently. And when he managed to take control after Ranboo had fallen asleep, Dream felt proud, admiring his plan beginning to work.
The enderman was tall and lanky but he had a profound ability to be stealthy in a manner that Dream hadn’t expected. Though it helped when tracking Techno through the snowy winter biome. It was such a different world from another person’s point of view. Dream had never taken the time to admire the environment around him, but as he looked around with Ranboo’s eyes, he saw an entirely new place that was similar yet different to the one that he was used to.
It wasn’t much longer until Techno reached the portal and disappeared from Ranboo's view. He waited a few minutes before following the piglin through the portal. Techno had already left towards the main portal and Dream suggested that Ranboo pick up the pace as he saw Techno enter the final portal.
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Ranboo could hear whispers of a conversation as he floated throughout his mind. Nothing seemed to get through to him in his current state. He could feel this voice inside of his head, and he knew that his body was moving but it was all just so far away.
He was in front of a pigling man. He knew that he should recognize the piglin but for some reason, he just couldn’t put his finger on who he was. Could it have been someone important? That’s really the only thought that seemed to stick inside of his head. His brain wouldn’t let him think through much more than that. It felt as if it was wading through a viscous sea that only seemed to increase in-depth as more words tried to enter his head.
The piglin man spoke and it seemed like Ranboo responded but he wasn’t sure what he said. It could have been anything for all he knew, it could have been in enderman. He could have said it in symbols for all that he could hear was a deafening silence that would sometimes form to let singular words breakthrough. He wasn’t even in control right? He couldn’t have been in control.
“...ranboo…?”
Something seemed to be shaking him, though he could barely feel the force through the fog that filled his mind.
“... Ranboo!”
The second time something seemed to be attempting to break through his mental haze.
“RANBOO!”
With that, the mist seemed to break entirely and Ranboo’s mind snapped back into place.
Techno was standing in front of him in his normal regal attire, nothing amiss besides the emotion that seemed to be displayed across his face. It was unlike anything that Ranboo had ever seen before, a mix of concern and confusion that wasn’t common for the Piglin to express.
It took a few minutes for Ranboo to get his mental bearings back and finally able to form words that were coherent enough for someone to understand.
“Te-techno? Wh-what are y-you doing here?”
Ranboo said groggily, clutching his head.
“Not to alarm you but I think we have things to discuss.”